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When the West Humanitarianism and Humanism Turn into Naivety in the Post-Cold War Transition of USA/EU/NATO Versus USSR/Russia/China/SCO/CICA and the Ex-Komintern/Communism International Motivated LDC/Emerging Markets Countries – 08/03/2014

“Naïvety (or naivety, naïveté, etc.), is the state of being naïve—, having or showing a lack of experience, understandingor sophistication, often in a context where one neglects pragmatism in favor of moral idealism. One who is naïve may be called a naif.”

“Deontological ethics or deontology is the normative ethical position that judges the morality of an action based on the action’s adherence to a rule or rules. It is sometimes described as “duty” or “obligation” or “rule”-based ethics, because rules “bind you to your duty.” Deontological ethics is commonly contrasted to consequentialism , virtue ethics, and pragmatic ethics. In this terminology action is more important than the consequences.”

“Pragmatism is a philosophical tradition that began in the United States around 1870. Pragmatism is a rejection of the idea that the function of thought is to describe, represent, or mirror reality. Instead, pragmatists develop their philosophy around the idea that the function of thought is as an instrument or tool for prediction, action, and problem solving. Pragmatists contend that most philosophical topics—such as the nature of knowledge, language, concepts, meaning, belief, and science—are all best viewed in terms of their practical uses and successes rather than in terms of representative accuracy.”

“The naif appears as a cultural type in two main forms. On the one hand, there is ‘the satirical naïf, such as Candide‘.Northrop Frye suggested we might call it ‘the ingenu form, after Voltaire‘s dialogue of that name. Here an outsider…grants none of the premises which make the absurdities of society look logical to those accustomed to them’, and serves essentially as a prism to carry the satirical message. Baudrillard indeed, drawing on his Situationistroots, sought to position himself as ingenu in everyday life: ‘I play the role of the Danube peasant: someone who knows nothing but suspects something is wrong…I like being in the position of the primitive…playing naïve ‘.On the other hand, there is the artistic ‘naïf – all responsiveness and seeming availability’. Here ‘the naïf offers himself as being in process of formation, in search of values and models…always about to adopt some traditional “mature” temperament’ – in a perpetual adolescent moratorium. Such instances of ‘the naïf as a cultural image…offered themselves as essentially responsive to others and open to every invitation…established their identity in indeterminacy’.“

“During the 1960s, ‘the naifs turned toward mysticism and Eastern religions’, feeding into the Hippie movement. ‘Hippie culture, bastard of the beat generation out of pop, was much like a folk culture – oral, naive, communal, its aphorisms (“Make love, not war”, “turn on, tune in, drop out”) intuited, not rationalized’. Its druggie protagonists ‘had a childlike wonder that we could produce such weirdness from ourselves…assumed with the bravado of youth that we’d make it back to tell of what we saw’.“

“A “recovering” naïf might have to learn that ‘I had to stop presenting myself as a blank canvass to others. I was allowing people to paint their fantasies on to me so that when I finally let them know what I was like…I was already in too deep for the extrication to be painless’.“

“In its most general form, humanitarianism is an ethic of kindness, benevolence, and sympathy extended universally and impartially to all human beings. Humanitarianism has been an evolving concept historically but universality is a common element in its evolution. No distinction is to be made in the face of suffering or abuse on grounds of gender, sexual orientation, tribe, caste, age, religion, or nationality.”“Humanitarianism can also be described as the acceptance of every human being for plainly just being another human, ignoring and abolishing biased social views, prejudice, and racism in the process, if utilized individually as a practiced viewpoint, or mindset.”

“Humanism is a philosophical and ethical stance that emphasizes the value and agency of human beings, individually and collectively, and generally prefers critical thinking and evidence (rationalism, empiricism) over established doctrine or faith (fideism). The meaning of the term humanism has fluctuated, according to the successive intellectual movements which have identified with it. Generally, however, humanism refers to a perspective that affirms some notion of a “human nature” (sometimes contrasted with antihumanism).In modern times, humanist movements are typically aligned with secularism and with non-theistic religions.”

“Historians have not fully agreed on the dates, but 1946-1991 is common. It was “cold” because there was no large-scale fighting directly between the two sides, although there were major regional wars in Korea, Vietnam and Afghanistan that the two sides supported. The Cold War split the temporary wartime alliance against Nazi Germany, leaving the USSR and the US as two superpowerswith profound economic and political differences: the former being a single-party Marxist-Leninist state, and the latter being a capitalist state with free elections. A self-proclaimed neutral bloc arose with the Non-Aligned Movement founded by Egypt, India, and Yugoslavia; this faction rejected association with either the US-led West or the Soviet-led East. The two superpowers never engaged directly in full-scale armed combat but they each armed heavily in preparation of an all-out nuclear World War III. Each side had a nuclear deterrentthat deterred an attack by the other side, on the basis that such an attack would lead to total destruction of the attacker: the doctrine ofmutually assured destruction or MAD. Aside from the development of the two sides’ nuclear arsenals, and deployment of conventional military forces, the struggle for dominance was expressed via proxy wars around the globe, psychological warfare, propaganda andespionage, and technological competitions such as the Space Race.”

“The first phase of the Cold War began in the first two years after the end of the Second World War in 1945. The USSR consolidated its control over the states of the Eastern Bloc while the United States began a strategy of global containment to challenge Soviet power, extending military and financial aid to the countries of Western Europe (for example, supporting the anti-Communist side in the Greek Civil War) and creating the NATO alliance. The Berlin Blockade (1948–49) was the first major crisis of the Cold War.”

“The Cold War and its events have left a significant legacy, and it is often referred to in popular culture, especially in media featuring themes of espionage (such as the internationally successful James Bond film series) and the threat of nuclear warfare.”

“Following the Cold War, Russia cut military spending dramatically. Restructuring of the economy left millions throughout the former Soviet Union unemployed. The capitalist reforms culminated in a recession more severe than the US and Germany had experienced during the Great Depression.”

“The aftermath of the Cold War continues to influence world affairs. After the dissolution of the Soviet Union, the post–Cold War world is widely considered as unipolar, with the United States the sole remaining superpower. The Cold War defined the political role of the United States in the post–World War II world: by 1989 the US held military alliances with 50 countries, and had 526,000 troops stationed abroad in dozens of countries, with 326,000 in Europe (two-thirds of which in west Germany) and about 130,000 in Asia (mainly Japan and South Korea).] The Cold War also marked the zenith of peacetime military-industrial complexes, especially in the US, and large-scale military funding of science. These complexes, though their origins may be found as early as the 19th century, grew considerably during the Cold War. The military-industrial complexes continue to have great impact on their countries and help shape their society, policy and foreign relations.”

“Military expenditures by the US during the Cold War years were estimated to have been $8 trillion, while nearly 100,000 Americans lost their lives in the Korean War and Vietnam War. Although the loss of life among Soviet soldiers is difficult to estimate, as a share of their gross national product the financial cost for the Soviet Union was far higher than that incurred by the United States.”

“In addition to the loss of life by uniformed soldiers, millions died in the superpowers’ proxy wars around the globe, most notably in Southeast Asia. Most of the proxy wars and subsidies for local conflicts ended along with the Cold War; interstate wars, ethnic wars, revolutionary wars, as well as refugee and displaced persons crises have declined sharply in the post–Cold War years. Left over from the Cold War are numbers stations, which are shortwave radio stations thought to be used to broadcast covert messages to spies abroad, some of which can still be heard today.”

“The aftermath of Cold War conflict, however, is not always easily erased, as many of the economic and social tensions that were exploited to fuel Cold War competition in parts of the Third World remain acute. The breakdown of state control in a number of areas formerly ruled by Communist governments has produced new civil and ethnic conflicts, particularly in the former Yugoslavia. In Central and Eastern Europe, the end of the Cold War has ushered in an era of economic growth and an increase in the number of liberal democracies, while in other parts of the world, such as Afghanistan, independence was accompanied by state failure.”

“During the course of the unrest, the United States, followed by the European Union, Canada, Norway, Switzerland, and Japan, began tosanction Russian and Ukrainian individuals and companies that they said were related to the crisis. Announcing the first sanctions, the United States described some individuals targeted by sanctions, among them former Ukrainian president Yanukovych, as “threatening the peace, security, stability, sovereignty, or territorial integrity of Ukraine, and for undermining Ukraine’s democratic institutions and processes”. The Russian government responded in kind with sanctions against some American and Canadian individuals. With the unrest continuing to escalate, the European Union and Canada imposed further sanctions in mid-May.“

“On 19 July Ilya Bogdanov, a former Russian FSB lieutnant in Vladivostok, defected to Ukraine claiming that he couldn’t longer stand the lies used by Russia to stimulate the situation in Eastern Ukraine and Dagestan, where he served earlier. On 24 July Russian army serviceman Andrej Balabanov asked for political asylum in Ukraine stating “I finally took a decision not to take part in this war and sided with Ukraine. This is my protest against Russia’s political leaders”. Balabanov claimed his unit had sent “military intelligence, GRU, experts and Chechens” into Ukraine to help the separatists. He went on to claim his unit had been “continuously brainwashed into believing they would be sent to Ukraine to save their Russian-speakingbrothers“.

“Monitors from the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) were sent to Ukraine after a request by the Ukrainian government, and an agreement between all member states of the OSCE, including Russia. The Special Monitoring Mission (SMM) deployed on 6 April, and has remained in Ukraine to “contribute to reducing tensions and fostering peace, stability and security”. The SMM lost contact with four monitors in Donetsk Oblast on 26 May, and another four in Luhansk Oblast on 29 May. Both groups were held in captivity by separatists for a month, until being freed on 27 June and 28 June respectively.”

“Malaysia Airlines Flight 17 (MH17/MAS17) was a scheduled international passenger flight from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur that was shot down on 17 July 2014, killing all 283 passengers and 15 crew on board. The Boeing 777-200ER airliner lost contact near Hrabove inDonetsk Oblast, Ukraine, about 50 km (31 mi) from the Ukraine–Russia border and crashed near Torez, 40 km (25 mi) from the border.The crash occurred in the conflict zone of the ongoing War in Donbass, in an area controlled by the Donbass People’s Militia.”“The plane is believed to have been downed by a Buksurface-to-air missile fired from the territory controlled by pro-Russian separatists. The cause is under official investigation, being led by the Dutch Safety Board. Witnesses in Torez reported sightings on the day of the incident of what appeared to be a Buk missile launcher, and AP journalists reported sightings of a Buk system in separatist controlled Snizhne. Shortly after the crash, Igor Girkin, leader of the Donbass separatists, was reported to have posted on social media network VKontakte, taking credit for downing a Ukrainian military aircraft. The separatists later denied involvement after learning that a civilian airliner had been destroyed, saying they did not have the equipment or training to hit a target at that altitude.”

“On 22 July a soldier revealed to an Italian reporter that fellow separatists had told his unit the aircraft had been shot down under the assumption that it was Ukrainian. Unnamed US intelligence officials stated that sensors that traced the path of the missile, shrapnelpatterns in the wreckage, voice print analysis of separatists’ conversations in which they claimed credit for the strike, and photos and other data from social media sites all indicated that Russian-backed separatists had fired the missile.The Russian Ministry of Defense has maintained that US claims of separatist responsibility were “unfounded”.”

“The crash of MH17 marks the fifth Boeing 777 hull loss, the third in just over a year. With 298 deaths, MH17 is the deadliest air incident in Ukraine and the deadliest airliner shootdown in history. The crash was Malaysia Airlines‘ worst incident and its second of the year, after the disappearance of Flight 370 (9M-MRO) on 8 March, en route to Beijing from Kuala Lumpur.”

“Since the start of the conflict, several Ukrainian Air Force aeroplanes have been downed. On 14 June, an Air Force Ilyushin Il-76 aircraftwas shot down on approach to Luhansk International Airport; all 49 people on board died. After that incident, on 29 June, Russian news agencies reported that insurgents had gained access to a Buk missile system after having taken control of a Ukrainian air defence base (possibly the former location of the 156th Anti-Aircraft Rocket Regiment [156 zrp] of the Ukrainian Air Force). On the same day, theDonetsk People’s Republic claimed possession of such a system in a since-deleted tweet.”

“On 14 July, a Ukrainian Air Force An-26 transport plane flying at 21,000 ft (6,400 m) was shot down. Militia reportedly claimed via social media that a Buk missile launcher had been used to bring down the aircraft.American officials later said evidence suggested the aeroplane had been shot down from Russian territory. On 16 July, a Sukhoi Su-25close air support aircraft was shot down. The Ukrainian government said the Russian military had shot down the aircraft with an air-to-air missile fired by a MiG-29 jet in Russia; a spokesman for the Russian defence ministry rejected that report as “absurd”.”

“On 15 July, following his visit to Kiev, Polish Minister of Foreign Affairs Radosław Sikorski warned about the dangers posed by the continued Russian military support for pro-Russian separatists, especially ground-to-air missiles. On the same day, an unnamedAssociated Press journalist saw a Buk launcher in Snizhne, a town in Donetsk Oblast that is 16 kilometres (10 mi) southeast of the crash site. The reporter also saw seven separatist tanks at a petrol station near the town. Associated Press journalists reported that the Buk M-1 was operated by a man “with unfamiliar fatigues and a distinctive Russian accent” escorted by two civilian vehicles.”

“The airspace above Donetsk Oblast was closed by Ukraine below 26,000 feet (7,900 m) on 1 July 2014 and, on 14 July, below 32,000 feet (9,800 m). The route in Russian airspace that MH17 would have taken was closed below 32,000 feet (9,800 m) by Russian air control a few hours before the airliner took off. As with other countries, both Russia and Ukraine receive overflight fees for every commercial aircraft that flies through their borders. This may have contributed to the continued availability of civilian flight paths through the conflict zone.”

“Shortly after the crash, it was announced that Malaysia Airlines would retire flight number MH17 and change the Amsterdam–Kuala Lumpur route to flight number MH19 beginning on 25 July. On 18 July 2014, shares in Malaysia Airlines dropped by nearly 16%.”

“There have been reports that credit and debit cards may have been looted from the bodies of the victims, and the Dutch Banking Association reported that it would take “preventative measures” against possible fraud. There are also accounts of corpses and their possessions being removed and evidence at the crash site being destroyed.On 23 July, two Ukrainian military jets were hit by missiles at the altitude of 17,000 feet (5,200 m) close to the area of the MH17 crash. According to the Ukraine Security Council, the missiles came from Russia.”